To the Shores of Tripoli

This is incredible. Colonel Daffy has decided, according to this report in Time, that if he goes down, he’s taking Libya with him.

There’s been virtually no reliable information coming out of Tripoli, but a source close to the Gaddafi regime I did manage to get hold of told me the already terrible situation in Libya will get much worse. Among other things, Gaddafi has ordered security services to start sabotaging oil facilities. They will start by blowing up several oil pipelines, cutting off flow to Mediterranean ports. The sabotage, according to the insider, is meant to serve as a message to Libya’s rebellious tribes: It’s either me or chaos. . . .

My Libyan source said that Gaddafi has told people around him that he knows he cannot retake Libya with the forces he has. But what he can do is make the rebellious tribes and army officers regret their disloyalty, turning Libya into another Somalia. “I have the money and arms to fight for a long time,” Gaddafi reportedly said.

As part of the same plan to turn the tables, Gaddafi ordered the release from prison of the country’s Islamic militant prisoners, hoping they will act on their own to sow chaos across Libya. Gaddafi envisages them attacking foreigners and rebellious tribes. Couple that with a shortage of food supplies, and any chance for the rebels to replace Gaddafi will be remote.

My Libyan source said that in order to understand Gaddafi’s state of mind we need to understand that he feels deeply betrayed by the media, which he blames for sparking the revolt. In particular, he blames the Qatari TV station al-Jazeera, and is convinced it targeted him for purely political motivations. He also feels betrayed by the West because it has only encouraged the revolt. Over the weekend, he warned several European embassies that if he falls, the consequence will be a flood of African immigration that will “swamp” Europe.

If this is true — that Gaddafi is willing to see Libya turned into Somalia — then he is an evil man. Instead of stepping down with some shred of decency, he wants to flame out in a senseless, nihilist apocalypse. He manages to make Mubarak look good.

This demonstrates that dictators don’t “love” the people they control, despite their propoganda to the contrary. They love power and power only, and if that power is threatened they will destroy their country in spite.

Would America be morally justified in taking out Gaddafi? Yes. If he is releasing from prison terrorists who would kill foreigners, that’s reason enough.

But would it be practical? Probably not. An American attack on Gaddafi would make him a martyr in the Arab world. Any regime America put in place would be seen as illegitimate.

Anyway, with Obama as president, such speculation is a waste of time. No way Obama interferes in Libya. He has made it clear that he believes America should not consider itself better than any other country, and has no right to meddle in the affairs of other states. Obama would only act to stop the creation of a Somalia on the Mediterranean if it were clear that America had nothing to gain in its self-interest. There’s too much oil in Libya to pretend American intervention is purely altruistic.

It’s fashionable these days for anyone to compare his political enemies to Hitler. But as I watched Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi give his 75 minute speech on Tuesday on Al-Jazeera, all I could think was that Hitler had been resurrected. Gaddafi is truly a psychopath, and feels no guilt for the atrocities that he’s launched against his own people.

I assume that comparison also crossed the mind of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom Reuters quotes as saying, “The news we’ve had from Libya yesterday and today is worrying and the speech by Colonel Gaddafi this afternoon was very, very frightening, especially because he virtually declared war on his own people.”…

Here’s one more quote from the speech, where he referred to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre by the Chinese: “People in front of tanks were crushed. The unity of China was more important than those people in Tiananmen Square. … When Tiananmen Square happened, tanks were sent in to deal with them. It’s not a joke. I will do whatever it takes to make sure part of the country isn’t taken away.”

This is the first time, as far as I can recall, that I’ve ever heard anyone, even the Chinese, speak of the Tiananmen Square massacre in a positive, approving manner.

I wish I could convey in words the screaming, ranting man that I saw. This is a guy who is capable of anything, without remorse. He’s already using outside mercenaries to kill protesters, since he can’t count on his own police to kill their fellow Libyans. Some commentators said that they feared that he might turn to poison gas to stop the protesters. The best thing that can happen is for someone close to him to put a bullet in his head.

One Comment so far ↓

Over the weekend, he warned several European embassies that if he falls, the consequence will be a flood of African immigration that will “swamp” Europe.

Interesting. He knows exactly what buttons to push to manipulate Europe. The last thing Europe needs in its present state is more Muslim immigrants.

The Muslim world is imploding. This is more proof that the Bush/NeoCon strategy of “spreading democracy” and nation building in the ME was a total failure. The premise of the “Forward Strategy of Freedom” was that Muslims long for peace and freedom and if the US gave it to them they would accept it and become politically stable states and allies against the “extremists”.

This was all delusional. Muslims want Sharia and we are looking at a possible Pan-Islamic Sharia movement that comprises the entire ME. And this was set in play by a Republican. Obama is doing nothing but carrying on with Bush’s script.

At this point, a rational foreign policy is impossible. It would require some non-Establishment Republican to reject both the anti-Americanism of the Left and the nation-building, rescue-the-Muslims-from-themselves philosophy of mainstream Conservatives. Good luck even finding that guy.

National Security Workforce to Address ‘Intersectionality’: do you ever get the sense that you’re in a waking nightmare? Money quote from the memo: “Our greatest asset in protecting the homeland and advancing our interests abroad is the talent and diversity of our national security workforce.”

Last Week Tonight on Donald Trump: bit long, but great takedown of the Trump mythos. In a more rational political environment, this would have killed his presidential campaign. I’m not sure it’ll make any difference.

A Responsibility I Take Seriously: nominee must be “without any particular ideology or agenda” and have “a keen understanding that justice is not about abstract legal theory, nor some footnote in a dusty casebook.” I sure hope the Republicans can hold the line on his nominations.

Trigger Warnings in Annapolis: I’m not sure why I expected the service academies to be bastions of academic freedom, but I did. It’s much worse than the universities since they’re far more hierarchical.

Announcing the Twitter Trust & Safety Council: this is within their rights, of course. Given the leftist leanings of the company and its assembled Council of Goodspeech, I suspect that some groups will get a pass and some will face suppression. Chilling at any rate.